The Seoul High Court upheld a 30-month prison sentence for a Seoul resident who started a fire in a residential building’s hallway by setting a Bible alight, legal sources said Monday.
The court upheld the defendant’s convictions for attempting to set fire to a residential building and for a separate assault, finding the lower court’s sentence reasonable.
On March 18, the defendant was reading the Bible in the building’s hallway when they took apparently issue with a passage, placed the book on the floor and set it alight.
The fire damaged parts of the wall and floor and burned a nearby plastic chair.
Firefighters contained the blaze before it spread through the building.
Prosecutors charged the defendant with attempting to set fire to the building. The defendant denied intending to set the building ablaze, contending they had only meant to burn the Bible.
In September, the district court found that the defendant was aware the fire could spread beyond the hallway.
It pointed to the building’s wooden doors and the number of households in a confined space, saying the defendant could have recognized the risk of the fire spreading.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
